Colloido-polymersomes: Capsules consisting of a composite layer of particles and polymer

Abstract

We present an approach to fabricate capsules consisting of a composite layer of particles and block copolymers. The capsules are fabricated by directed assembly of block copolymers at the interfaces of a double emulsion template and electrostatic adsorption of particles onto the copolymers. The double emulsion drops are prepared using capillary-based microfluidics. The solvent phase of the double emulsion is then evaporated to yield polymersomes. The particles are locked together on the surface of the polymersomes. The resultant structures, which we call "colloido-polymersomes", are hollow shells of particle-coated thin polymer films. Our approach provides a simple strategy for fabricating vesicles with a complex structure for encapsulation-related applications; by tuning the characteristics of the particles attached, the final vesicles can be used for attaching biomolecules such as proteins and DNA, and thus are useful for biomedical applications such as biosensing.